Dalchini
The Hindi word for cinnamon, a sweet bark that in India usually means the stronger cassia kind.
Also: cinnamon, darchini, pattai, ilavangam
Dalchini is the inner bark of trees in the genus Cinnamomum, rolled into quills as it dries. True cinnamon, from Sri Lanka, is pale, thin-layered and delicate. Cassia, from southern China, Vietnam and Indonesia, is darker, thicker and more pungent, and is what most Indian kitchens call dalchini. Both owe their scent to cinnamaldehyde. In India a stick of bark goes into rice, tea and meat curries early, in hot oil, and into garam masala. In the West cinnamon is a dessert spice. Ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans prized it, and merchants kept its source secret for centuries.